English

Verb

lie upon

1. (archaic) To be incumbent upon; to be up to (someone); to be obligatory upon.

   It lies upon the prosecution to prove that the defendant is guilty.

2. To lie on.

   She was lying upon the bed.

3. (obsolete) To importune; to urge; to solicit.

   The judge in the parable granted the widow's suit merely because she lay upon him, and was troublesome to him.

References

• J[ohn] A. Simpson and E[dward] S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ISBN 978-0-19-861186-8.
• John Walker, A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary and Expositor of the English Language (1836)